Travel Blog
Misty mountains in the Central Highlands, Dalat.
A day in the life of us...
Date: 16 May 2008 | Posted by: Sarah |
Hi everyone,
Please note this specific link here to the blog will no longer be updated.
Please visit the main URL:
http://www.underforeignskies.com
to read updated entries in both English and German and further information about the trip and where we currently are.
Kind regards,
Sarah
A day in the life of us...
Date: 28 March 2008 | Posted by: Sarah | Mood: Exhausted
We've spent the last few days inland going through the Central Highlands taking advantage of the cooler climate, great scenery and fewer tourists.
Also away from the city, the traffic changed primarily to two and four-legged country contenders usually ducks, ducklings, geese, goats, kids, chickens, chicks, buffalos, cows, calves, dogs, pigs and the odd piglet darting across the road.
Robert is probably in a better position to say which is less or more hazardous, though the animals seem to be less of a danger than vehicles. Rather, the people driving them. Common scene: 3 trucks. Let's call them big truck, bigger truck and biggest truck. Biggest truck is just going too slow. Bigger truck is impatient and wants to pass biggest truck. Big truck is behind both and thinks it can pass both bigger truck and biggest truck in one go. And where are we? Sandwiched on the other side of the road, of course. Can they see us? I don't know nor do I think they care even if they could. I really won't be looking forward to the day this happens when we're on the edge of the road, without anywhere to go and the only way further off it is down the face of a cliff or down a hill-side. I know we'll one day be in that situation.
Yesterday was our last day in the highlands. I was a bit sad to have to leave it and head back to the coast, to the hoards of tourists, back to the "overprice-the-foreigner" system and to the heat, but we need to push on up north as our visa runs out in about 2 weeks and we still have Northern Vietnam to see and need to sort out what to do next as we finish one third of the trip and head into the Middle East. There are issues with getting into China, but I'll write about that next time before we leave Vietnam.
I think for me, yesterday was also one of the worst days on the road over the past 5,000-6,000 kilometres travelled to date. Getting out of the highlands took a lot longer than expected and come 5pm, we still weren't out. There's very little civilisation there, with a handful of minority villages, forget about English, forget about accommodation. The plan was to go to Hoi An, though in the end, we ended up at Danang.
By way of bad luck, we ended up on the first day of a 2-day fireworks competition. There are only 1 million people in the city of Danang, though it meant that at least 500,000 of them were all on the street in town and that the hotels were fully booked. We spent 2 hours looking for a hotel and I trekked in and out of about 20-30 of them. All full. Doing this after spending all day on the bike is always a nightmare and is always the time of the day when we both get a bit cranky at each other as we're both exhausted and tired. Looking in town was pointless, we had to go way out of town, to those places in the wops that are so far from town that no one wants to stay in them.
I was so tired by that time and could barely sit on the bike anymore. When people constantly gawk at us all day, when I feel like we're features in a circus, when stupid teenage boys want attention and yell out immature comments all day or (in vain) try to outdo the 1000cc BMW with their 125cc Hondas, when people disrespectfully fiddle with the bike whenever we stop somewhere even for 5 minutes, or when people keep speaking to me in Vietnamese, even though it's obvious I have no idea what they're on about, it really makes me annoyed after a long day.
In a country of 83 million people, forget about privacy or personal space.
Twelve hours on the road had also meant my care factor for standards other than a roof over my head, bed and shower, had been reduced dramatically that I thought to myself, I would've stayed in a rent-by-the-hour place, I honestly really didn't care, I was that tired.
The place we eventually found seemed dead, no one spoke any English, cold shower and we had to cart the stuff up four flights of stairs.
But at last, all day on the road, we had a place to rest and I was asleep in minutes...getting some rest for another 400kms the next day.
Fugitives under foreign skies...?
Date: 14 March 2008 | Posted by: Sarah | Mood: YAY!!!
Sorry, a thousand or two kilometres later, I finally get around to doing another update.
We spent twice as long in Cambodia as we did Thailand (stupidly, though out of our control to a certain extent). Cambodia is a third of the size but with everything in USD, twice as expensive. As much as I respect Cambodian history, that was my third time there and there are only so many times one can stomach that gruelling S-21 museum or the Killing Fields with cabinets stacked with excavated, bludgeoned skulls. I did watch the movie 'The Killing Fields' again, which I appreciated more the second time through.
Robert mentioned he didn't feel safe in Cambodia, thought it was dirty, smelly, unsafe and was keen to leave at any rate. Despite a lot of negative issues surrounding the extreme poverty and corruption, I see progress since my first visit there in 2005, which is at least positive and re-assuring that its future is flickering a bit brighter.
Both of us were very anxious about getting in at the Cambodia / Vietnam border. As a normal backpacker, all you need is a visa. No problems. As a foreigner on a foreign-registered bike, another story. There were 3 border crossings in the southern regions within a do-able distance on normal (proper) roads: Ba Chuc, Chau Doc and Moc Bai. Coming from Phnom Penh, going through Bavet / Moc Bai was quickest, though all we could do was hope for the best as we could've gotten turned down at all 3 on a bike which exceeded the cc limit of 125. Chau Doc is more for river crossings, and Ba Chuc is a remote crossing where the Khmer Rouge from Cambodia crossed the border and within the course of just over a week in 1978, killed over 3,000 people. We went for the most common road border.
We knew what we were expecting, to be honest. We were expecting to not get in and if we did, it would be sheer luck. It was more the disappointment that we weren't looking forward to. The worst being, we drive 250kms in the heat from Cambodia. No entry. Arrange another visa for Cambodia. We have to go the same 250kms back. 500kms a day in 35 degree heat on shoddy roads wasn't an outlook we were looking forward to but had discussed the back-up plan should it all turn pear-shaped. Back to the capital again, then head up north east over some VERY shoddy uncommon roads up through to Laos instead. Preferably not.
But first things first. Getting out of Cambodia. We drive out in the morning around 8am and almost have 2 crashes down the main boulevard out of town from careless drivers.
One in the middle of a 4-way intersection, a 125cc scooter speeding our way head on at "9 o'clock" and seconds later there's screeching of tyres. The scooter is centimetres from the bike, Robert is seething, the guy is looking at us as though it's our fault, my heart is beating out of my chest. On that occasion, I couldn't help but wonder what would've happened, would a small scooter have that much of an impact against the BMW? Would we've stayed up right or swerved and ended up on the ground? Would I've gone flying off the bike and ended up splattered in the middle of a Cambodian intersection? It's better not to think about things like that. Although it always sets a nervous start to the day for both of us and we must be thankful we're still alive. When we're both down and we go through such horrible moments where we both see our life flash before our eyes and our names down as another statistic, we think maybe this whole trip was stupid. Were we both wearing rose-coloured glasses when we thought this whole thing through and planned it night after night for 6 months leading up to our departure? A hundred metres down the road, we're cut off and almost crash into another careless driver having a morning yarn on his mobile phone.
Still in one piece, we arrive around midday at the border. The last stretch of Cambodian road, I'm kind of sad to be leaving it behind, though excited for the first time at the thought of being in Vietnam. The border post is quiet. A few conical hats appear on the scene indicating Vietnam is just down the road. The officials are standing around in the sun, it doesn't look like much work is happening. I go first. The officer randomly thumbs through my passport looking at all the places I've been to. He stamps me out of Cambodia. I let out a sigh of relief.
Robert goes, for some reason the officer comes out and gets a bit crotchety at me that I didn't tell him I was on a "big bike". I protest innocence as he never asked anything about any bike as such. The guy refuses to stamp Robert out, but is smiley and kind and suggests he goes to the Vietnamese border post to see if they will let the 'big bike' in. I'm instructed to stay in No-Man's-Land between the two countries and wait.
In hindsight, this all seemed a bit daft and a waste of time toiling around in the 30-40 degree heat, but we went along with it to not upset the apple cart, given we only had one chance at this. We wanted to do everything by the books, so Robert went to Customs to sort out what needed to be done with the paperwork. Customs tells him to go to the Police. Police aren't anywhere to be seen at the headquarters. So Robert comes back and asks me to go with him. I'm informed it's more beneficial to have a girl around who can apparently flash a smile or batter eyelids etc. Oh, how reassuring it is to know I'm not just a waste of space on the bike!
So, sweating like pigs, we go to police. We park the bike out front. An officer comes out and barks at us to park it "over there" which is about 5 metres from its original position. I have to roll my eyes. We wait in the waiting room, no one comes to get us. We wait outside the building. How long are we supposed to sit around and wait when it's quite obvious no one really cares?
We leave and park the bike at immigration and Robert goes in first, as a normal tourist.
Then we drove through. The first official didn't take much notice. There was another barrier ahead. They looked at us, we looked at them, they looked at us again, we looked at them in the rear view mirror, no batons being waved at us, no sirens wailing after us, no coppers running after us....easy? Illegal? Apparently not...
First stop, was petrol. We hadn't filled up since Cambodia, where the price of fuel is the same as New Zealand. What a joke. In one of the poorest countries in the region, the average monthly salary USD20.00, the fuel is a buck a litre!
In any case, it's hard to believe we made it here to Ho Chi Minh City. It might as well be the Emerald City to us. Of the past 5,000kms, the trip for me starts now. This is the first stretch of this patch of the world I haven't seen, so it's only now that I'm starting to enjoy the trip and see it through new eyes. Buzzing with around 6 million people, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) has a welcoming relaxed feel to it. The city has this constant hum and drone of motorbikes. Of course, we 'strategically' arrived at rush hour on Friday afternoon...but not to worry, we're still alive, the bike is still in one piece...and we're in Vietnam!
Never a dull moment...
Date: 27 Feb - 01 March 2008 | Posted by: Sarah | Mood: Relaxed
Battled with rain all day up the east coast along the Gulf of Thailand. Well, at least we were on tarmac.
Wake up call at 5.30am. Normally I'm happy to get up early and just get the show on the road before the heat hits around late morning/mid-day when riding becomes nearly unbearable. But this morning, I stumbled out of bed like a zombie, bleary-eyed, still stiff with a sore lower back and tired from the 400kms done the day before from Phuket past Phang Nga, Takuapa, Ranong on to Chumpon and really not wanting to think about the hundreds of kilometres we needed to cover again with only a night's rest to recover. We ate breakfast in the dark. Packed up our belongings on the bike, and went off to fill up the tank. The weather was fine. Ten minutes later, when we drove out of the petrol station, it started raining. Just like that.
Sitting on a bike in the rain. Blergh. Driving must've been hell and Robert wasn't a happy camper either. When it rained the first couple of times in the first hundred or so kms, we pulled over. We were both drenched, yet stopping and waiting for it to clear slows you down, though is safer than riding on slippery roads with limited visibility and being low down in the traffic hierachy.
My jacket is waterproof, though my pants were drenched. I gritted my teeth as the water dripped down my soaked cargo pants and into my shoes and socks. My feet became numb and shrivelled and by the end of the day, I could barely feel them. By the time it had stopped raining and the sun had dried my pants, it would start bucketing down again and we'd be back to square one. Whatever direction we had to go, there were ominous clouds looming above to welcome us with downpour at random intervals without warning. After going through that for hours, we gave up trying to seek refuge and just drove on in the rain.
Some 300kms later that day, close to Hua Hin, some 200kms from Bangkok, the rain thankfully eased and it finally cleared up for good, the roads dried and we could cover more mileage at around 100km/hr to get to Bangkok before it got dark.
When we made it to Bangkok, we were both pretty grumpy and at each others' throats. Bangkok is a mammoth of a place to get around if you don't know where you're going. Chaotic madness where people just drive anywhere where they can get their cars in.
Despite having lived here, driving around with your own transport is another matter and on a motorbike is another, as not all expressways will allow motorbikes. So I jumped in a taxi to the hotel and led Robert on the bike. That took 2 hours to navigate through Bangkok's traffic. Robert said it was suicide and from what he saw from behind the taxi, my driver was driving like a maniac. Somehow, being in the backseat which didn't have seatbelts, I couldn't quite see that.
We've been relaxing somewhat in Bangkok since then, yet kind of running around at the same time trying to organise this and that while we know where to find everything and it's not ridiculously expensive.
Among the list of "must dos" in Bangkok was the laptop. After pfaffing around for several hours negotiating this and that, we managed to get a brand spanking new Compaq laptop with all the software needed, plus a 250GB hard drive, plus memory cards for the camera, memory keys for the laptop, re-writeable DVDs, movies on DVD, music CDs...all for under $1,000. Some of it might've come off the back of a truck, but until it conks out, let's leave that non-critical issue until later on. A more pressing matter is how I fit it and pad it securely in my pannier, so it can hopefully handle a knock, bump and the odd crash here and there.
This is the longest we've stayed anywhere without having to jump on the bike again and cover mileage. A luxury. Like getting back clean laundry. I say relaxing in a sense that at least our body has time to recover and heal from any aches from the hectic regime in getting up here.
So we've decided to head east first to tackle Cambodia's pot-holed roads instead of going up to Laos first.
This should be fun...
Woes & Worries...
Date: 24 February 2008 | Posted by: Sarah | Mood: Anxious (but not deterred)
Has been what seems like good riding, we're finally covering some distance...now just over 2,000kms ...though not quite enough to catch up for lost time running around in Singapore.
2000 kilometres (roughly the entire length of New Zealand from Invercargill to Cape Reinga) seem like so little somehow in the overall scheme of the estimated 20,000km (possibly and probably more)...and only in Country #3 of 20.
It's 30+ degrees here, at night it drops to something more bearable like 28 degrees, but still hot...humid, bad drivers on bad roads...covering kilometres as fast as what could be done back home on normal roads is always easier and safer said than done...
I didn't write about it earlier, though Robert did in his German entries. (for those who can't read German).... Day 2 on the road from Keluang to Mersing in East Malaysia and we fell. First fall. Second day. A few scratches, no injuries, both still alive. It was nearly midday, so absolutely roasting hot in Malaysia, so I (stupidly) wasn't wearing my bike jacket.
I had mentioned to Robert that there was potentially a good photographic opportunity off to the left down a wee track which looked like jungle (though nothing too rugged or dangerous) and it all looked harmless and do-able, until we were both on the ground and the bike was up-ended on its side, which took both of us to push it back up off the ground.
Robert thought the bike was done for...blue and black smoke came out of the exhaust, it wouldn't accelerate... We thought it was time to call it a day. Day 2 and the journey was supposedly already over, given the bike is so old. As though we were in a movie scene, we happened to be metres away from a motorcycle repair shop (even though we were in the remote sticks between towns). The bike is pondered over for a couple of hours. A teenage kid turns up on the scene and fixes it in a matter of minutes, thankfully...
Drama 2 happened the other day. Riding from Malaysia up through Thailand. There was a fuel truck ahead of us and some 4-5 cars trailing closely behind it...so we couldn't actually see that it was dripping fuel all over the road, until we came to the spilt fuel around a windy corner and the bike skidded and almost skidded off the road, luckily Robert used the rear brakes and counter-steered which saved us from a near accident and again, potentially disastrous results.
That was a very close call. The bike would've been written off and we probably would've both been injured, depends on how far we went, whether we hit the road or into the nearby bushes and trees. That gave us both a scare, both close to heart attacks on the road and we both talked about it that night that we had some guardian angels watching over us that day.
We were both a bit shook up, through stressed, shitty and tired trying to cover so many kilometres from Malaysia halfway up through Southern Thailand as night had already fallen and we had already been driving in the dark for too long. We found a roof over our head in Krabi and I wondered how many lives we'd continue to count before, without warning, we'd just simply run out...
Livin' in a lap of luxury...
Date: 18 February 2008 | Posted by: Sarah | Mood: Chilling in Cherating
It has been some 15 days since we landed in Asia...
Incidentally, 15 days since our clothes have had a proper wash. (Geez, I know...!) We've both resorted to hand-washing, with laundries closed over the lunar New Year in Singapore, when they re-opened, they were charging something ridiculous like $3 per item of clothing (that's like a hundred bucks for a load of washing!), and it was time for us to leave in any case for their 2 day turnaround time.
When you've been spoilt all your life with such wonderful whizzes like the modern-day washing machine which actually cleans clothes properly, going back to handwashing/wringing in the evening (and inevitably dripping dye all over the floor incidentally) never rates high in the 'fun' or 'must do' stakes until absolutely necessary.
Ah, the flimsy home-made washing line - attached from one room-fitting to the other, from door handles to wonky shower heads or ill-fitted towel rails, it never quite does the trick and despite all the circulation possible and lemon/lavendar-scented powder used, the clothes still end up smelling like a musty wardrobe.
Anyways, after a fortnight or so of random half-hearted-never-quite-clean attempts to make our odoriferous clothes a bit more bearable for us both, we're actually seriously quite excited to be getting clean clothes back at the end of today from our hotel.
Quite the luxury. Excited about clean clothes....welcome to our life on the road.
Week 0
Date: xx January 2008 | Posted by: Robert | Mood: xxx
Monday and it feels so odd to have time available. The weather is gorgeous too, hot and sunny. Feels like that there is not much more to do, except packing up the flat and leaving. Good that I dont know whats in store for me next week.
Normal gym routine continues, feels odd knowing that it will soon be over. Couple of other things are left to do. I finally get around to sit down and translate the whole website. That takes much longer than expected, and its not before Wednesday evening that everything's done. Have the ignition key copied at Locksmiths, get some new screws for the mudguard at coastal fasteners. There are other, last administrative matters: tell the bank, immigration and tax department about change of address. Prepare tax return in advance and make it ready to be mailed in May. Scan important certificates, letters and documents and save them on the gmx/ gmail server. Copies of passports, Carnet, banking stuff etc to be handed over to Norbert and Heike for safe storage.
My new VISA Card also arrives, finally and just in time. Last telephone call to POLO in Germany. Everything's ready to go. Visit at the Westpac branch to open a common account. Unfortunately, without Sarah being here, thats not possible. Hard to believe that we have wasted so much time, so many months, to sort this essential part of our trip and are now left with last minute adjustments. Feel really stupid.
Last time to the movies on Friday night with Kirsten and our current interns at the office. Another farewell after. Saturday brings the second last boxing class in the morning and packing starts in the afternoon. It looks like an easy enough job to do and am quite optimistic on Sunday. There are enough boxes and its actually not that much. At least, thats what I think.
James comes around Sunday to picks up his furniture and other items. Teijo and Liz also come around and Liz kindly agrees to sell all the items which I cant take into storage – the outdoor heater, the gas heater, the TV, the photo enlarger, the dehumidfier....We ring Telstra to arrange disconnectio of phone and internet. The landlord shows up and tries to fix the broken window; we agree to sort out the bond next week.
The last Sunday evening in the flat and the boxes are piling up. The pictures have been taken off the wall, there is no place to sit anymore in the lounge. It has already stopped to being my home anymore.
Minus One
Date: xx January 2008 | Posted by: Robert | Mood: xxx
Visit to Immigration first thing Monday morning to have my residents visa transferred to my new passport. Check and goodbye at the Travel Doctor. Last runaround to the bank to clear Andre's account and transfer his money to his parents. Pick up some caps and stickers from Motorad. Packing continues in the afternoon. Last BodyPump class in the evening and Gerry tells the whole class, around 100 people, about our trip and that they will publish the link to our website soon. Feel a bit embarrassed, but its a nice send-off.
Packing all day Tuesday, and its another brilliant day, sunny and hot. For weeks we are now having this beautiful weather, Wellington puts up quite a show for me. I have no idea where all the stuff comes from. One box after the other fills up. Realize that this is way too much, have no idea how we can store all that in the garage I share with Erwin. Start to throw things away more and more and the junk piles up on the front porch. Erwin comes around at 4:30 and we drive up to the garage to install a lock and fix the door. First time that I see it and christ, it is small. But it has a high ceiling, so we decide to put some planks on the beams and store my stuff up there.
Back home, some emails, bit more packing, late to bed.
And up early Wednesday. Hurry to town, meet with James to get the last internet invoice. Another visit to Westpac, change and transfer money. Back to BMW, get some fork oil. Home, ask Bob, the landlord from opposite, whether I can borrow his trailer. No problem. Together with Chris, we strap my bed onto the trailer and drive it up to the garage. Lift two of the heavy doors up on the beams, drive back, get three lightweight doors Chris still has in his garage and no use for and drive them up again. Back home. Meeting with the landlord in between to discuss the bond. Leave the form with him, he can have a look through the place and sign it off. Erwin picks me up, problem, doesnt have much time, emergency call from one of his customers. We chuck as much as we can in his van and hurry to the garage. Lift the doors on the beam, drill them on.. Then up with the boxes and small crates. The bed gets suspended on ropes from the ceiling. Erwin needs to dash and there is still so much stuff to carry. When am I supposed to do all that? My plane leaves Friday morning 6am and I dont know what to do. Nobby offers to pick me up tomorrow morning, 6am, to do the rest. Hope we can finish it then.
Back home and I realise its way too much to get it all in the garage. Over to Bill to ask whether I can store it at his, almost empty place across the road from us. He agrees and with an overwhelming sense of relief I carry boxes and furniture across the street till late at night.
Nobby arrives when I am just under the shower. We chuck some boxes in his van and drive up to the garage. I cover our suitcases and the bed with old bedsheets, then we tie the bed properly to the ceiling. Done. He drops me off in town, quick visit at Norbert's construction site to hand over the important folders and documents to look after. To the bank a last time. Pay the outstanding taxes for last year. Home. Ask Chris and friend to help me carry the remaining heavy boxes and furniture across the street into Bill's place. Thats quite some work, but we manage. Even better, Chris friends buys the TV off me, $50. Great. Bob arrives just when we finish and agrees to help with the old Honda from our lounge. We pull the trailer out and the Honda on it. The bike hasnt been moved in years, and everything is heavy stuck together – we even have to push it downhill on flat tyres. Up again to the garage, the last run. Bob drops me back in town, quick, last visit at BMW to drop off a 12-pack Tuis for the team.
Home and its light at the end of the tunnel. All done except for the computer and the bedding. I vaccum the whole place. My cell phone is running empty but I dont know where I put the charger. Last boxing class at 6pm, am so tired, can hardly keep my arms up. Drinks at the LoneStar after but I have to leave early to finish off.
Last phone calls, last emails. Pack up the computer and take it across the street. Liz comes around to pick up the heater, to sell it on. Goodbye, see you again end of the year. The place is now completely empty and feels very strange.
Am so tired but dont want to go to bed. Over to Bill and Joans for a last time to say goodbye. Check and doublecheck of my luggage for tomorrow morning. Order the cab. Go to bed.
I sleep for like 90min and get up at 4am. Take my bedding over across the street, leave the key on the kitchen sink. The cab is on time, my final goodbye is to the flat. It was a good place, not pretty, but safe. It was a good home and who knows where my next one will be.
We are driving through dark and empty streets, it will be a couple of hours before the sun is up. I am so tired and exhausted I wish I could go back to bed and wake up in six months when all this is over.
The trip has begun and I feel just tired and sad..
0 weeks - time to de-stress!
Date: 30 January 2008 | Posted by: Sarah | Mood: Chilled out
From this point on, I’ll prolly do the blog in English and Robert the German one…so we’re over both in both languages. Unless Robert still wants to cover both…then I’ll duck off the scene as it’s pointless us covering the same stuff in the same language…when essentially we’re doing the same thing! :o)
Well, as he mentioned in his last post, I’ve ducked off to Sydney. Alas, no rest for the wicked, I’m stuck inside editing the English content into HTML and proof-reading the German content for all pages. (Something doesn’t quite add up there!)
Life should be relatively stress-free now, for both of us. 85% of the stress is over. This is time to relax, chill out and no longer stress about things out of our control. I chose to come to Sydney for that. Robert decided to stay in Wellington.
I knew if we both stayed in Wellington, we’d never have a proper break, we’d still keep talking about trip stuff again and again, how do we pack this? Should the tripod go in with the tent? Do we need that blasted tent? What if the shock absorber doesn’t fit? What are you going to do with the old one? What’s the price to get the bike out of customs in Singapore? What are the horror stories we’re warned about getting it out? S’just neverending and becomes a headache.
Time to let it go for now...
1 week
Date: 21 January 2008 | Posted by: Robert | Mood: Stressed
Monday, pick-up day. Green Freight comes around in the afternoon and takes the crate away, half an hour after I had put the final panel on and nailed it shut. There goes our bike and all our equipment and I am too tired to feel anything, too tired to care.
Its my last week at work and now with the bike gone, I am back to my normal routine. Finally back at the gym again, working out feels so good. There is still stuff to do, though. The spare ignitor, which I want to take, costs a fortune in New Zealand and its half price in Sydney, so Sarah will get it when she is over there. We get our First Aid Kit from TravelDoctor, mosquito net, repair kit for our matraces.
I missed the big sale at Kathmandu, so I still have to hunt for shoes. But I am lucky and get some nice boots at Dwights Outdooor, reduced to $249. Pay my last invoice at BMW too.
Ray advises that our shock and springs are in and we get the note from NZ post in our mail box on Thursday. No hurry anymore as they are three days too late to get into the crate. Last day at work, the day just flies by and the sent-off is great, with lots of laughter and hugs. We say goodbye and promise to see each other again. And we will.
Our WP shock and springs are re-delivered again on Saturday, and boy, what a beautiful shock it is. Massive, solid, elegant, just awesome. Cant wait to build it in and see how it works. Farewell barbeque with our friends later, Sarah’s last day in Wellington, she is off to Sydney tomorrow morning. We will catch up in one and a half weeks over there and continue to Singapore.
Sunday and I wake up in an empty house. Its all said and done and all whats left to do is pack our household stuff and put it into storage. Will take me some days to realise that its done, that phase one of the our journey is completed. Bike, equipment, transport, documentation, money - all organised.
Time for a short break before now, time to relax and slow down before phase two starts, the journey itself. Funny enough, after all these months, after this whole year of preparation, it almost feels like an afterthought.
Like as we had forgotten about it.
2 Weeks
Date: 14 January 2008 | Posted by: Robert | Mood: Stressed
Worst week so far.
Monday is my birthday and as the office opens again too, it doesnt feel like a day to celebrate anyway. That it is my birthday today doesnt register, its just the day when there are only seven days left before the bike is picked up. Every day counts now and in the evening, after work, I change the gearbox oil on the bike. Happy birthday to me.
Tuesday evening Norbert comes around with his tools and we put the crate together. Two sides and the bottom for a start, the rest we can do when the bike is in, with the front wheel out. Its a good crate, but although we both have done it numerous times, there’s one thing we dont check and its a mistake which will make the coming Sunday very very stressful. The parcel from Touratech has finally arrived, but before its released, we have to pay import duty tax. But at least its here.
My uncle rings through and its bad news all round. FOCUS is not interested, our trip simply doesnt fit in their magazine and their target audience. The BMW dealer declined and again its the bike - its too old. We are talking business here and a journey on an old beamer, even in that magnitude, will quite likely not translate into any sales of a new GS. Fair enough. I would have loved to do the trip on a new bike too, thats for sure.
On Wednesday its another day at BMW. I have been here so often over the last weeks and months, that Brendan asks me if I want to move in. The new battery is organised and getting charged, I pick up the new handguards and put them on in the evening. Well, at least partly, as it turns out that the clamps are way too big and collide with the dashboard when you turn the handlebar. One cant move them or put them somewhere else, so the whole exercise, two hours in the garage, was a waste of time. Waste of money too as these comedians from Barkbusters told me over the phone that ’sure they will fit’ for my bike’. Yeah, right.
Thursday morning back at BMW. Michael has a look and agrees that it cant be done. Not with these clamps at least. I leave the bike there and jump on a Gilera Scooter to get to work. 180cc, automatic and runs like the clappers. 120 flat out and even up the gorge its 90k’s. Pick up the bike in the evening. It took Michael three hours to customise some clamps and a lot of swearing as he says to get it done. Why is it always that the things you anticipate to run smoothly that go so wrong? It looks nice now, though, the guards sit rock solid. Should do the trick when - not if - we crash our way around on off-road tracks.
Another chat with Ray on Thursday. Our shock and springs are on their way but we havent got any confirmation that they are in the country yet. If they arrrive tomorrow, everything is in place to get them couriered down to us immediately, in time for the crating. If not, I have to take the stuff with me on the plane. He says he has done it before, no problem.
Friday. Pick up the parcel from Touratech. All the stuff is there, the jerrycan with holder, the tankbag, oil cooler repair hose, tyre pump and tyre gauge. It’s a beautiful day too an din the evening we are at Helen and John’s, farewell dinner as there wont be any chance to catch up again before we leave. Fish and chips on a rare calm evening with a beautiful sunset. Talk and laughter and a moment to reflect and relax. We will be back next summer.
Saturday is the last day to drive around and take pictures. And its today when a gale wind blows through the city and makes exactly that almost impossible. The bike is fully loaded for the first time and feels remarkably solid. The new tank bag is great, with big side pockets which store heaps of gear. We are taking pictures on the beach and round the bays, but its not easy to get it the way we want it. The last picture out of 60 will turn out to be the best, just before the sun dissapears behind the hills. We finish watching ‘TheLongWayDown’ by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Borman. Its by far not so engaging as there first journey, due to the fact that they are almost never on their own. But there are some nice shots and moments. Wish we had one of their R1200GS Adventure bikes for our journey.
Sunday. Quick wash and polish for the bike in the morning, the last one it will get for a long time to come. Lift the bike in the crate with the help of James and one of our neighbours. To get the front wheel out is quite an act. But even with windscreen off and handlebars down, the bike is still too tall for the crate. We have to get it lower. Norbert decides to cut holes in the bottom, so that the fork can go through. Its still not enough, so we tie and pull the front down with tie-down straps left and right. The shock absorber has to be removed too to get the rear lower. That means we have to stabilise the back so that the shaft wont get damaged and the wheel doesnt sit on the mudguard. Christ.
Getting all our gear into the crate was the next challenge. Two panniers with the sleeping bags strapped on. The two helmets, in their cardboard boxes with padding around. The roll with the tripod and shin guards. The big roll with our jackets, trousers, gloves, kidney belts. The roll with the tent and the therm-a-rests. Plus the windscreen, front mudguard, and front wheel, all to be secured and tied down somehow. In between I also have to drill holes in the right pannier to fit the holder for the jerrycan, and of course the first drill breaks in the process. Tiredness and exhaustion doesnt help. It is way after midnight before I finish, although the crate is still not quite done, the final top panel is not screwed down. But both batteries on the drill are empty, and so are mine. I am exhausted and drained of all energy. I just want this all to end.
3 Weeks
Date: 6 January 2008 | Posted by: Robert | Mood: Stressed
People keep asking me if I am excited to go on the trip and are always surprised when I say that no, I am not, not at all, actually.
Since December it feels like that every week there is more to do, more to organise, more to buy, more money to spend. I havent slept properly for a long time, waking up every morning, thoughts spinning round and round in my head, of stuff to do, people to ring, things to finish. Thinking about possible scenarios, worst-cases, what-ifs. And the list of things which are still not accomplished is even longer.
We havent had a single test drive with the bike fully loaded because we still havent got all the equipment. The shocks and springs are probably stuck at customs in Auckland. Ray cant get any information from customs, so has to ring WP in The Netherlands next week to get the tracking numbers. Same with our parcel from Touratech Australia. At this stage it looks like that we might not get the new shock and spring in time for the crating of the bike. Which means the stuff has to be sent up to Singapore. Which means I have to put our new suspension in up there, somewhere in the parking lot or in the garage of our hotel. In 35 degree heat and 120% humidity. And hoping – praying – that everything fits, that the people at WP got us the right shock, the right springs. If not, we are screwed.
There is still other equipment missing. Boots. First Aid Kit. Travel Insurance. The bike went to BMW this week, to get a new clutch, alarm fitted and a new, second hand exhaust elbow because the old one is quite rusty and due to break soon. As for the clutch: it was still fine, but its the first one. On a 15 year old bike with 140.000km on the clock it means it is due to give way any time now. Quicker of course with two people and luggage and in extreme heat. So the question was peace of mind or running the risk. Same question as in "shall we get that JE vaccination or not".
The bike feels much different now, though. Steel brake cables, new clutch and new rear brake pads and new rear tyre means it corners, brakes and handles just brilliantly.
Did an oil change of engine and shaft drive too. Put the new valve heads in, installed new seals and fuel filters.
We also did our first test packing, which was quite an eye opener. We still have way to much stuff and way too little space to store it. The panniers, even without a laptop in them, come to over 12.5kg each. Thats too much, I want the back of the bike as light as possible. 10kg is the goal, plus another 10-15kg on the rear carrier (where the heavy tripod is gonna sit).
We still dont know whether to take the tent or not. Sleeping bags are a must, but do we really need a tent (and the Therm-A-Rests? And the petrol cooker? And the plates and cutlery? When are we going to use them? How often in 8 months? 5 times? Is it worth it?)
Wish we had time to check all that out and do a proper test run.
So thats the reason why I am not excited. I just want to get it all sorted and organised, finally.
And after that I have time to get excited. Or catch up with some sleep.
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